Oscar Hijuelos Writing Styles in The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

Oscar Hijuelos

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Style

Point of View

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love is told from two points of view. The first is that of Eugenio, who tells of his experiences in the first person, using "I" and "me." Eugenio is the narrator of the book's opening and closing sections, starting with a childhood memory that he has of his uncle Cesar and ending with a fantasy of the Castillo brothers' hearts being reunited after death.

Most of the book is from Cesar's point of view. The sections that concern him are told in the third person: not using Cesar's voice, but still relating the details of his experience as he would have observed them. From Cesar's point of view, women are described in terms of their sexual attributes, musicians in terms of their talent, and political events in terms of how they affect Cuban farmers. Readers are therefore given a...